A pair of mobile homes stand near the south edge of property used by Henry's Turkey Service in Atalissa in 2009. The town's water tower is at background left.

Written by

The Register?s Editorial Board

After hearing several days of testimony about the abuse of 32 mentally handicapped men employed at a West Liberty meat processor, a federal court jury recently awarded $240 million in damages.

It was the biggest verdict of its kind.

And it would be hard to find another jury that would disagree with that amount, given the long-time mistreatment of the men by Henry's Turkey Service employees. The men, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, were housed in a bug-infested century-old schoolhouse and subjected to physical and verbal abuse. Their wages worked out to be about 41 ...